Mortar misfires at firework safety event in Concord, N.H.

No injuries reported

A reloadable mortar misfired at a firework safety event in Concord on Tuesday, sending sparks toward the media and a table full of explosives.

The mishap cut the demonstration short. The idea was to show the force of the reloadable mortars, which were just legalized in New Hampshire in 2011.

Fire Marshal Bill Degnan said in the first two weeks, mortars injured two people.

“They assume because it's sold in a store that's legal in New Hampshire that they have to be inherently safe, and they're not. They're explosive devices,” said Degnan.

Every safety precaution was in place the only wild card? the weather.

“If water's absorbed, it can completely change the function of the device. That second shot you saw was exactly that it was only small bit of rain just before you guys arrived,” said Christopher Wyman, fire investigator.

Degnan said the mortar was supposed to go up on the first explosion and then out across the sky. Instead, the second explosion sprayed laterally on the ground, reaching the media and the experts standing 75 feet away.

The pyro technician lit the device from a safe distance, but a backyard user would likely have been right near the fuse, which burns an inch every three seconds.

“From a safety standpoint … We leave it up to the professionals and go to a show,” said Chief Jason Lyman of the New London Fire Department.

Experts said if you must bring home fireworks, consider the cake kind because they are less unpredictable and less risky for the person who lights them.

Nineteen people in New Hampshire were hurt in fireworks accidents last year.

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